With the Big Green Teams
Now the pace is beginning to quicken for the Dartmouth ski team. They have been working since September on conditioning and, after the first snow came, on skiing technique. But there has been no intercollegiate competition yet to spice the winter. The first Carnival meet of the campaign doesn't come until February 5-6 at St. Lawrence (followed the next week by Dartmouth's).
So Coach Al Merrill has had some two dozen varsity skiers, plus even more freshmen, biding their time for a couple of months. There have been some races, a few of the informal variety on the new Winslow Mountain trails behind Brundage Lodge at the Dartmouth Skiway, others in regularly scheduled club and area competitions.
"In a way the traditionally late start for college racing is a break for us this year," commented Coach Merrill recently. "We lost a lot of experience from last winter's squad and our sophomores need this time to develop."
It also has become apparent that this Big Green ski gang needs some time to get healthy again. A rash of January injuries battered them in manner reminiscent of football casualties during the two-a-day breakdown drills in September. Junior Ned Gillette, a top cross-country specialist from Barre, Vt., underwent an appendectomy and may be out for the season due to the strenuous requirements of ski running. Classmate Jim Speck, Eastern collegiate jumping champion from Bethesda, Md., had a bout with mononucleosis. Then John Meek, son of Dartmouth's treasurer and another junior, hurt his back while merely lacing his boots and had to spend 10 days in Dick's House. When sophomore Dave Boyle of Lincoln, N. H., went on the shelf with an ankle injury, Merrill really felt that someone had put the whammy on him.
There have been bright spots and the suspicion persists that this young Dartmouth squad will shake down enough to win that Eastern championship on February 26, even though Middlebury will have "home course" advantage for it.
One of the main reasons for optimism is Captain, Brian Beattie, a taciturn Vermonter from Lyndonville. In some ways Beattie is the most remarkable lad on campus. He is a gifted student, majoring in chemistry and maintaining well over a 4.0 average. Eventually Brian is going into medicine (he already has been accepted at Dartmouth Medical as has football captain Tom Clarke). And Beattie is very gifted in skiing.
"His range of ability," says Merrill, "makes Brian one of the outstanding skiers at Dartmouth in a long time. For example, he made the U. S. National Alpine team as a freshman, competing in the Harriman Cup Races at Sun Valley and then in the Nationals in Alaska. Last year and again this year he made our National Nordic squad, a very unusual and demanding switch for a skier.
"Beattie, besides being a good skier technically, has a good mind, years of experience and good skiing sense. He has been skiing actually since he was three years old. And he has a maturity and poise which enable him to combine his demanding academic program with a competitive skiing career which is just as rugged."
Unfortunately Beattie's skiing ability may be so good that it will cost Dartmouth his services during the heart of the collegiate season. The final tryouts for the U. S. National Nordic team which will compete in the FIS World Championships in Oslo, Norway, in February began in late January. Probably nine men will be chosen for the cross-country and Nordic-combined events and Beattie, who has participated in three Nordic training camps since last September, is one of the top candidates. If he makes the U. S. team, he will leave here February 8 and be gone for three weeks. There is a possibility Beattie might be allowed to remain here through the Dartmouth Winter Carnival (he missed last year's because of National Nordic Combined meets out west).
Another key senior is Adrian (Skip) Bryan, the Alpine star from Stowe. He provides the maturity and experience needed by the downhill contingent, is the sort of collegiate veteran upon whom his coach can depend for a solid performance on a tricky slalom course or ice-swept downhill trail.
The most unusual development on this year's varsity ski squad is the addition of two experienced "freshmen." Two skiers from Oslo, Norway, were admitted to Dartmouth this year. Since both Hans Mehren and Per Coucheron had attended the 13-grade Norwegian school program, they were given advanced academic standing as sophomores and became eligible immediately for varsity competition. And this could make a tremendous difference in the Green's ski campaign.
Coucheron is an outstanding jumper, easily the best on the Dartmouth squad. Two years ago he was the Norwegian Junior Jumping Champion and he was a runner-up last winter. Per has been skiing for 15 years and has been in competition all over Europe. For instance, in a German-Austrian tourney a year ago which attracted 60 competitors from 14 different countries he placed 15th overall in the four jumping events. He was invited to the prestigious Class A division of the Masters Tourney at Lake Placid in early January and finished seventh, easily the best of the American collegians. The following week Per outdistanced the field in the Hanover Invitational Jump here.
Al Merrill met Coucheron two years ago during the Holmenkollen in Norway. He talked a little about Dartmouth and that summer Coucheron was able to come to the States as one of five members of the Norwegian Aero Club taking part in a C.A.P. Cadet exchange program. (Per is an enthusiastic glider pilot, another indication of his love for soaring through the air.) Al learned he was here, invited him to Hanover for a weekend, and Coucheron made application to the College. He is a pleasant, blond youngster who speaks English well, and he achieved a 3.7 average in his first college term. He is planning to major in Economics.
During its Carnival Dartmouth will try an innovation which Coach Merrill has been advocating for a couple of years. Rather than limiting team entries to the customary eight men, this year's Carnival will allow 10-man teams. Each team will be allowed to enter five men in each event, rather than the former limit of four, and the low three will still count in the team scoring.
"We hope this will eliminate 'defensive skiing' in which some boys have to sacrifice speed in slalom racing or in icy downhill conditions to make sure their team has three finishers in the event," explains Merrill. "It also will allow the coaches to get a look at more men under competitive conditions and develop the inexperienced skiers quicker."
Ski captain Brian Beattie, rated a topcandidate for the National Nordic Team.
Skip Bryan from Stowe, Vt., is Dartmouth's standout in the Alpine events.
Coach Eddie Jeremiah '30 surrounded by his hockey players, who surprised himwith a silver plate when the 6-3 triumph over Yale gave him his 300 th victory.
